Look, we all know this guy. Hell, some of us have fucked this guy. He walks into the gym like he owns it, probably has a protein shaker in one hand and his phone in the other so he can film his bicep curls for an audience of eleven people. The body? Absolutely ridiculous. Could probably bench press your car. The face? Annoyingly hot in that “I know I’m hot and I’m gonna make it everyone else’s problem” kind of way. And yeah, he’s probably packing below the belt, which is the only reason you entertained the situationship for three weeks longer than you should have. But here’s the thing about guys who spend six hours a day at the gym – they’re using all that time to avoid developing a personality. A conversation with this man is like watching paint dry if the paint was also homophobic and thought being able to deadlift 300 pounds meant he didn’t have to read books. Good for a night when you’re feeling a certain way and your standards are at an all-time low? Sure. Good for literally anything else? Absolutely fucking not. Brandon gets it. ‘The Jock’ is the callout these gym bro archetypes deserve.
Okay so this is basically a takedown of toxic gym bro culture wrapped in a pop banger. We’re talking about guys who’ve built their entire personality around their biceps, guys who think “depth” is a pool measurement, guys who are all flex and zero substance. The kind of dude who’s homophobic and treats people like shit for sport. They genuinely believe being hot and having abs is a personality trait just like those blonde dudes in all those 80s teen movies.
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The whole “you’re just a body, you don’t even have a brain” thing is the thesis. These men are stuck performing masculinity like it’s a full-time job. Money, sex, drugs, next. Big arms, bad flex. Plastic ass, green grass. They’re swiping left on anyone who doesn’t fit their narrow worldview, making others feel bad as a hobby (real sad), and they’ve killed any actual dreams they might’ve had in favor of just being “on top” at the gym and in the most surface-level way possible.
The track is asking: what the fuck is your actual fire? What motivates you beyond looking good and being a dick? You’re stuck in your image, eating spinach like it’s a personality, when you could be a whole ass human with depth and empathy. The bridge gets real about it: can you get past yourself and learn to embrace other selves? Like, can you stop being a homophobic gym bro for five seconds and realize other people exist?
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It’s calling out the shallow toxic masculinity bullshit that makes men think dominance and appearance equal worth. Spoiler – they don’t. This is what happens when the patriarchy goes to the gym and forgets to work on its emotional intelligence.
Brandon and The Clubs is really just Brandon, a pop powerhouse from Minnesota who’s been making earworm bangers since 2017 and honestly we’re obsessed. Inspired by Lady Gaga and Kesha (taste), he named his project “Brandon and The Clubs” because “The Clubs” is actually his fans, The Clubbers, which is fucking genius and wholesome. He dropped his debut EP Love Club in 2020, a whole record about growing up and learning to love yourself that hit exactly when we all needed it, then followed it up with Sparkle in 2022, which gave us tracks like “Just a Boy,” “Pink,” “Sugar Sugar Sweet Kiss,” and “Gunner” that took off online. “Pink” became a full Pride anthem embraced by the LGBTQ+ community because of course it did. Brandon’s got this knack for writing pop songs that burrow into your brain and refuse to leave. He creates visuals that actually tell a story instead of just looking pretty and he’s genuinely on a mission to spread joy and make the world better one bop at a time. He’s the kind of artist who reminds you why pop music matters.
So those gym bros. I’ve been there. We’ve all been there. You think maybe this time the hot guy with the good arms will also have a functioning brain and emotional availability, and then he opens his mouth and you remember why you swore off this exact type six months ago. Brandon’s not saying these guys aren’t occasionally useful for very specific purposes (I mean, as long as they have a face, I’ll have a place to sit). He’s saying they’re exhausting and shallow and maybe it’s time they got past themselves and learned to embrace other selves. The jock can keep rocking on top at the gym but the rest of us? We’re good. We’ve upgraded our standards and honestly, it feels fucking great.
